Time for some Fashion-inspired stuff!  Erwin’s style :)  Let me know what you think and enjoy!


Model: Anastasiia Nikitina
Makeup & Hair: Lori White

Finally got to do this! I was happy that I was traveling a lot at the end of last year, and got to see new places, as well as old places that I haven’t been back to for so long.  Here are some of the images from my trips.  The above shot is taken in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.


Nov. 18-21: Campeche, Mexico

I’ve been to Mexico a couple of times, and it has always been a treat to go.  Almost all the regions have a certain look / color pallete to it, which I’m guessing is very closely related to their ancestor’s tribes.  Campeche is no different, the area is colorful, full of nice people, good food, and the best thing about it is:  when you photograph anyone in the streets, they really don’t care :)

Drinks consumed during this period: Tequila. Beer. Tequila, Tequila,…Teqiluia,….. Teqiliua…. Tequ…ii.. you get the point.  Lots of it.

Nov. 23-Dec 1: Belo Horizonte & Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

One of the most interesting trips I’ve taken, it all started at Belo Horizonte, where I was invited to do a workshop for my friend, Vinicius Matos. Fast forward a couple of days, we all went to Rio de Janeiro, and upon arriving, we found out that about 5000 military and police are surrounding the Favelas (the famous slum area, which are controlled by the drug dealers) – it resulted in a full on attack on the cartel, but ended to be a very positive thing.  Great thing is, Rio is such a party city, and with all this going on, it’s the safest time ever to roam the streets :)

Drinks Consumed:  Beer, Cachaça*, Caipirinha  (* denotes some sort of warning)

Sugar Loaf  Area – People go here to see the whole Rio from a high-vantage point, but I went to practice shooting people :)

Morro de Corcovado – You wouldn’t believe how many people did this pose all day long.  Amazing place, nonetheless.

Dec. 3-7: Singapore

Bustin’ out my IPhone for these:

Signs around the train terminal

Dec. 8-Jan 18: Jakarta – Semarang – Bali, Indonesia.

I haven’t been back to Indonesia for about 13 years prior to this trip.  It was an awesome feeling to be back however the downside of it is you feel like such a stranger to your own country.  Everything has changed so much.  More people in the big cities, more people on the road, more buses, and even more motorcycles.  Traffic was always incredibly bad in Jakarta.  It’s amazing that people go through that every day.  One thing that stood out to me in Jakarta is the Shopping Mall lifestyle (kids playground, shopping, food, even churches are in malls).  Not to mention the number of malls located very close to other malls.  I don’t remember how many malls that I went to in the month-and-a-half stay there.

Drinks consumed: Beers – Bintang, Erdinger, and Paulaner.

Bali:  The view from the top of the hill, looking at the Karma Kandara private beach.

Traveling with my whole family and my 5-yr old niece = fun trips to the Safari Park in Bali.

My niece and my brother watching a white tiger up close.

We were in Bali for one week, however one of the days when we planned to go around the city apparently fell on a sacred holiday.  The Kuningan holiday, sadly created some problems for us, not only from the increased traffic but also (the good) restaurants are all closed.  Culinary trip fail.  By the way, at this time I have been in Indonesia for about 1 week and I’ve already gained 8 lbs from all the food.

A boy waiting in the car as the traffic comes to a dead-stop

Semarang, Java – I was meeting up with some good old friends over one of the weekend, walk around in the older part of the town and got to an area where the locals are selling roosters:

In a nation that is in the top 5 in the world in terms of population, Indonesia has an extremely large ratio between the rich and the poor.  It saddens me that there are so many people living in these conditions.

“Becak” drivers taking a nap

A typical “warung”, which is a small kiosk selling food on the side of the street.

Then a bunch of us headed to Borobudur, one of the grandest and oldest Buddhist temple in Magelang.

Upon exiting the Temple, we are directed towards this endless zigzagging rows of souvenir kiosks.

Back to Jakarta.  Remember the Mall lifestyle that I was mentioning earlier in the post?  Well, there are no public parks or playgrounds that is open to the public.  Here is a shot of my niece’s birthday party, which was held in a place called “The Playground” located in the middle of a housing complex, which probably is the only one in the city that is outdoors.  And you have to make a reservation and pay to play there.  If you currently can just go to a park and play with your kids, consider yourself lucky.

I love shooting people in different countries and locations.  For anyone who is planning a destination wedding, contact me – I would love to shoot your wedding :)

Some random travel images from Bali, Indonesia. Taken during our second mini-honeymoon after just shot a wedding at the Conrad Hotel, Tanjung Benoa. I miss Bali already. Enjoy and please leave your thoughts!

Locations: Ubud, Jimbaran Bay, Ayana Resort, Rock Bar, Tanah Lot, Legian, Kuta, Melia Tanjung Benoa, Grand Hyatt Nusa Dua, Conrad Tanjung Benoa.

Farmer at Ubud Rice Terrace

Jimbaran Beach

Roast Corn Vendor by the Beach

Ayana Pool Portrait

Rock Bar at Night

Tanah Lot Temple

Legian Buddha

Sunrise on My Birthday, Tanjung Benoa

Silhouettes, Nusa Dua

The other day I went with my friend Vanessa to shoot the getting ready section of  a local fitness competition.  It was an amazing experience and to a lot of people, this may seem almost like a “cult”.  There are many different types of people of different ages and they are competing because they are passionate about their health and the work that they have put in to it.

Here are some of my favorite shots of that day:

Location: Culver City, California

Impromptu portraits with my two girls after a piano competition. :)